Load supporting rack



n May 29, 1.951 M. BETTERTON ET AL 2,554,657

LOAD SUPPORTING RACK Filed Dec. 16, 1946 Pham hrw

I L IZ' wmv/ A Patented May 29., 1951 LQAD SUPPORTING RACK George M. Betterton, Piedmont, and Andrew J Mello, Berkeley,'Cal if.

Application December 16, 194s, serial No. 716,654

This invention relates to loadsupporting racks for railway cars and the like and. more particularly to resilient racks for use in railway refrigerator cars.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a load supporting rack in which the rack is supported by resiliently deformable blocks which are separately and serially compressed during vertical movement of the load. Preferably the racks are supported by vertically aligned blocks of rubber which are separated and connected by strips of metal or like rigid material.

Another object is to provide a load supporting rack which includes a plurality of spaced resilient supporting units positively held against movement longitudinally of the supporting strips or beams without interfering with resilient vertical movements.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a partial plan view of a supporting rack embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a partial longitudinal transverse section on the line 2 2 of Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a partial transverse section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

The rack as shown is of the general type normally used in refrigerator and like railway cars to support the lading in the car. As shown, the rack is formed by a plurality of longitudinally extending beams I which rest on the floor of the car and extend longitudinally thereof. It will be understood that the racks may be made in a plurality of sections in which case the beams I0 for each section extend only throughout the length of the section.

A supporting strip Il is supported on each of the beams Ill, and each supporting strip as shown is formed by an inverted sheetmetal channel co-extensive with the beam and of such a size that its side anges will fit slidably over the beam. The channels and beams may be connected by rivets or bolts l2 extending through the beam and slidable in elongated Slots I3 in the side flanges of the channels. The supporting strips Il carry a conventional rack floor illustrated as formed of spaced transverse slats I4 which are secured to the supporting strips and which extend transversely across the rack sections.

The supporting strip on each of the beams is resiliently urged upward of the beam to provide a resilient support for the rack floor so that ver- 3 Claims. (Cl. 105-375) tical shocks will be absorbed and the lading will be carried without damage. As shown, a plurality of resilient uni-ts indicated generally at l5 areprovided on each of the beams spaced longitudinally thereof and connecting the beam to its supporting strip. As best seen in Figures 2 and 3, each of the resilient units comprises a pair of blocks IB of resiliently deformable material such as rubber, synthetic rubber, or the like. The blocks I 6 are preferably in the form of relatively thin elongated strips of a width slightly less than the width of the channels Il and which are stacked in vertical alignment within the side flanges of the channels. The blocks are separated by a strip l1 of relatively rigid material such as sheetmetal which may be bonded or cemented to the adjacent surfaces of the blocks. As shown, each of the blocks is preferably formed with a series of recesses or openings I B to permit deformation thereof.

With this construction the blocks are separated so that they will separately compress under a load applied to the rack. This construction limits lateral bulging of the blocks under compression so that blocks of maximum size can be used without binding on the channels. The separate and serial operation of the blocks will also produce a relatively low springing rate with high damping to minimize development of harmonic vibrations and to support the maximum load with the maximum cushioning effect.

In order to maintain the separate resilient units properly spaced, stop members I9 are provided to hold them against longitudinal movement. As shown, the stop members comprise angle brackets carried by the beams I0 and adapted to engage the opposite ends of the dividing strip l1 to limit longitudinal movement thereof. It will be noted that this construction positively prevents longitudinal movement of the supporting units without in any way interfering with free vertical compression thereof.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail herein, it will be understood that this is illustrative only and is not to be taken as a definition of the scope of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a load supporting rack for railway cars and the like, an elongated supporting strip adapted to be mounted in a car above the floor thereof, the strip being in the form of an inverted channel, and resilient supporting means for the strip including a pair of relatively thin vertically aligned blocks of resilient deformable material mounted between the side flanges of the strip and a relatively thin strip of substantially rigid material lying between and connecting the blocks, and lying wholly within the channel and a beam fitting slidably in the channel on which the resilient means rests.

2. In a load supporting rack for railway cars and the like, an elongated beam to be supported on the oor of the oar, an elongated supporting strip of inverted channel section tting over the beam for vertical sliding thereon, and a resilient supporting unit between the beam and the strip including a pair of vertically aligned blocks of resilient deformable material one of which is supported on the beam and the other of which engages and supports the strip, and a thin strip of of spaced supporting units between the beam andthe strip, each including a pair of relatively thin vertically aligned blocks of resilient deformable material, a thin strip of substantially rigid material lying between and connecting the blocks, and stops engaging the ends of the last-named strip to limit movement of the unit longitudinally of the beam and supporting strip.

GEORGE M. BETTERTON.

ANDREW'lMELLO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this pat-ent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date v1,660,676 Joseph Feb. 28, 1928 1,884,372 Symington Oct. 25, 1932 1,924,237 Glascodine Aug. 29, 1933 2,076,019 Fineid Apr. e, 1937 2,115,238 Stevens Apr. 26, 1938, 2,272,639 Jack Feb. 10, 1942 2,274,998 Webster Mar. 3, 1942 2,322,193 Kaemmerling June 15, 1943 

